38 years ago, father Rajiv had made the deal, they were together then, now Rahul himself met Farooq and the deal was finalised

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi Rahul was in Kashmir on Thursday. he/she went on a Kashmir tour with his/her party Congress’s national president Mallikarjun Kharge. There he/she met National Conference (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah and his/her son Omar Abdullah. 38 years ago Rahul Gandhi had met the same Abdullah family in Kashmir. That year was 1986. Rahul Gandhi was 16 years old then. Father Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister of the country. Rajiv had gone to Kashmir with the whole family. Apart from Rahul, his/her mother Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi were also with him/her. The Gandhi family had met the Abdullah family. The Abdullah family and the Gandhi family were seen together in a photo taken in Gulmarg 38 years ago. Author Aditya Sinha has written a book on the political life of Farooq Abdullah. The name of the book is- Farooq Abdullah: Kashmir’s Prodigal Son. This book contains the photo of Gandhi and Abdullah family in 1986 which was taken in Gulmarg.

Gandhi family has a long history with Kashmir

Rahul Gandhi’s family has a long history of visiting Kashmir. The country’s first Prime Minister and Rahul’s great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru used to visit Kashmir often. Then Jawahar’s daughter and Rahul’s grandmother Indira Gandhi also used to visit Kashmir regularly to spend holidays. However, Indira did not visit Kashmir as much as Jawahar did. Then in 1986, Rajiv Gandhi went to Kashmir with his/her entire family. Rajiv was the Prime Minister of the country then and Farooq was the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Rahul also accompanied Rajiv when he/she went there on Farooq’s personal invitation. Rahul has visited Kashmir many times after that.

Congress-NC will contest elections together in Jammu and Kashmir

In fact, for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, the Congress party formed an alliance with the regional party National Conference (NC). Both are part of the opposition parties’ alliance INDIA. However, in the Lok Sabha elections, both the parties fielded separate candidates because there was no coordination then. For this reason, Rahul Gandhi himself took the initiative for the assembly elections. Former Congress President and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi went to Srinagar with the party’s national president Mallikarjun Kharge and met NC Chief Farooq Abdullah and his/her son Omar Abdullah there. In the talks held from both sides, it was decided that Congress and NC will fight the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections together.